Last Friday I decided to give Freckles a little break from arena work and headed out for some trail riding with friends Teresa and Jan.
We met up at the Wilson Creek Trailhead (the spot of misadventure where I most recently got Annabelle, Kristi and I lost for a couple of hours). Usually at this time of year there a lots of wildflowers growing and water flowing down the creek beds, but our unusually dry spring has taken a toll on the desert flora, and there were only a few small (but still beautiful) bunches of flowers to be seen
Despite the lack of moisture there were some areas that were starting to green up, and it was refreshing and relaxing to just ride along, chatting as the horses’ feet crunched along the dry path.
About an hour into the ride, I noticed some kite-shaped whiteish thingies on a couple of the sagebrush that we rode by. They didn’t look like much from a distance, almost like large dense spider webs.
As we went along though, the trail led up past a few that were a bit closer.
We sidled over for a closer look.
That’s when we saw dozens?…….hundreds?…….thousands? Yes definitely thousands…… of caterpillars crawling out of a nest in a giant clump that looked a lot like the head of the famed Greek Gorgon, Medusa. (No, I never saw her personally, but I did take something about Greek mythology in college…and I know how to type ‘Wikipedia’.)
One bush family had three or four of the nests on it, with caterpillar clumps in varying amounts of activity twining around.
The pictures don’t do them justice…….these things were curling and swirling and winding around on top of each other in a never-ending circle of motion. It was kind of creepy.
None of us had ever seen such a sight before, and we sat in quiet contemplation for several minutes (yeah right, like we’re ever quiet!) trying to make sense of the unusual nests in front of us. Finally we rode off, with me promising to do some research and figure out just what the heck it was that we had seen.
The rest of the ride was nice and fairly uneventful. We stopped along the way for a few pictures.
And of course I snapped and snapped as we rode along.
Pictures. I snapped pictures.
Miss Teresa on her trusty Remi climbed through the sagebrush with ease.
It was a lovely ride, and I know that Freckles enjoyed doing something out in the sunshine other than loping circles.
When I got home I got on the computer and looked up “caterpillar nest high desert Idaho” and came up with the answer. The nests we had seen were made by hatching Western Tent Caterpillar Moths.
The mommy moth, my research found, lays 100-300 (OK – they LOOKED like thousands of) eggs sometime in the late spring or early summer. The eggs soon begin to develop, but do not hatch until the following spring. After hatching, the baby caterpillars all stay close together and function as a social unit as they feed and grow through the spring. The group secretes silk to create the web-like structure that is called a tent. They used this tent as a refuge from cold temperatures and predators. The temperature inside the tent is more stable than that of the surrounding air, and can be several degrees warmer than the outside.
The little caterpillars journey out of the tent to find food, and if they find something particularly tasty, like a bunch of soft new leaves, they eat as much as they can, then secrete a chemical trail as they return to the tent so that their siblings can find the food too. Very sharing of them.
After growing for about 8 weeks, the caterpillars form cocoons and about two weeks later turn into adult moths.
They look like this when they are grown up.
As adults they reproduce and then die, starting the whole life cycle over again.
Ladies and gentleman, that was your science lesson for today.
Saturday was the first Snake River Reining Alliance Club show of the year. Annabelle has been anxious to go show again after having to sit around without much riding for a whole week in Vegas, so she was looking forward to getting out in the pen herself.
The day dawned a little gray but pretty warm. We loaded up early and headed over to Kuna to the Lucky Run Arena. As we arrived, it was easy to see the show was a big success. The large parking lot was filled with every description of trailer, and I thought to myself “it’s gonna be a long day.”
We had a several-hour wait until our class, which we spent by industriously eating donuts and talking to all our friends who were also hanging around. A steady rain had picked up shortly after we got inside the arena, and we tried to wait it out before we got our horses out of the trailer and saddled.
Finally, after Annabelle asked me for the forty-seventh time when she could get on Grumpy, I acquiesced and we headed out into the drizzle to get saddled up. It was immediately apparent that I had not packed warm enough clothes or coats for us.
It was windy and miserable, with the rain varying from a light drizzle to what my friend David Duckett describes so eloquently as “a cow peeing on a flat rock”. Except he doesn’t say peeing.
We tried to ride around outside with the other riders for a while, but eventually it was just too miserable, and we sat inside with everyone else waiting for our classes to come up.
We were muddy and cold, and our horses were definitely not the picture of show-ready that day.
Auntie Shane is such a funny girl!
Just before her class came up, Annabelle went back outside to lope. You can actually the rain falling in this picture, but she was not to be deterred.
I was not as hardy or dedicated as my daughter in my rainy-day warm up routine, so when I entered the arena to school Freckles in the green rookie class she was…..let’s just say ‘not quite mentally prepared’. She spooked from the judge, swished her tail, and carried her head like a 14-hand giraffe for a bit, then settled down into her work.
Once she got going she was actually pretty good. We were the first out in our class of 16 horses, and the judge must have seen something she really liked in my diminutive red filly, because she marked us a 70. While I was thrilled with the score, I really did feel it was a bit generous, and I saw several horses follow us that I was sure would mark better. Somehow, though, our number held up through the class and Freckles won her first reining money: $49.70. Yahoo!
Have I mentioned that I love this horse?
Here is a video of our run:
When it was Annabelle’s turn, she headed out all smiles. She had been waiting all day to go show, and she was ready.
Despite the rain, she had succeeded in loping Grumpy until he was pretty tired, and he was definitely not in the mood to go out and be shown. Annabelle had to work pretty hard at getting him through the pattern. The other kids had some problems with their patterns too, though, and in the end Annabelle and Grumpy did come away with the only score of the day, and an automatic first place.
I was really proud of her because she didn’t give up when she had some problems getting her spins or her back-up at the end of her run. That girl does have perseverance, no doubt about that! I’ve had a problem getting her video to upload, but she did a great job of keeping her horse correct and honest through the pattern.
As soon as we were finished showing we loaded up and headed home, but not before Annabelle gave Grumpy his cookies as a reward for a job well done.
DH had been home with Batman all day, and I knew they were ready for some female companionship in the house. On the way home I called to see if we needed anything from the store. “Nope”, he said. “I’ve got it handled”.
We walked in the door, still cold and very hungry, to find a large bowl of delicious home-made guacamole on the table. There was already a glass of wine poured, and DH was in the middle of making fish and chips with fresh cod, paired with some special crunchy fries that he had just found the recipe for that day.
The food was awesome, but that wasn’t all. The boys had picked me up a dozen red roses at the grocery store while they were there.
I have not written a blog in over a month. I feel bad about that; not that people are missing out by not getting regular information about the nuances of my life, but because it is a symptom of a more pervasive and over-riding neglect of other areas of my life.
You see, I have been very pre-occupied with an ambitious goal since the first of the year. I readily admit that many areas of my life have lost focus and attention while I prepared.
Let me explain. And I warn you now, this isn’t a short story.
I have previously blogged about my cute little red mare, Freckles, who we bought as a someday-for-Annabelle horse last fall. I wrote about my first attempts to get her shown last October at the Idaho Reined Cow Horse Derby at the Idaho Center, and about how much I realized I missed showing after I returned to the pen following a nearly eight-year hiatus. I wrote about how getting that mare added something back into my life that I hadn’t realized was gone, and how much more fulfilled I was every day I got to ride her.
I OPEN MY BIG MOUTH
In addition to all that writing about my horse, I had done plenty of talking. I told everyone who would listen about my plans to enter the National Reined Cow Horse Association Stallion Stakes, one of the organization’s Premier Events, which was to be held in the South Point Hotel and Equestrian Center in Las Vegas this year.
Although I talked about this show for the past months, I wasn’t really sure if I would be able to enter it. As a Premier show, the entry fee is steep; the show takes place over several days, and the schedule for my class stretched over three days of individual events necessitating nearly a week of travel no matter how well I planned it. The competition would likely be more accomplished and certainly more current in their show experience than I.
It was kind of a crazy idea.
But, like a lot of crazy ideas, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I had heard of how wonderful the South Point facility was. I had heard tales of valets who come with carts to unload your tack and accessories from your horse trailer and move it with your hay to the stalls for you. How the entire equestrian area, from the stalls to the multiple arenas, is climate-controlled and kept at a constant temperature of 70 degrees. Best of all, the stalls and show arenas are all within the hotel and casino – all of the equine facilities are housed underneath the building. You can leave your hotel room, hop on the elevator and go feed your horse in your slippers. If you don’t feel like leaving the room, you can watch the competition on closed-circuit television while lying in your hotel bed. To top it off the hotel has a world-class spa.
It sounded like heaven.
THE ROAD TO THE STAKES
In January I made the first move toward my goal when I asked my longtime friend and former trainer, Jake Telford, if I could move my horse to his training facility, which is just a few miles from our home. Freckles was receiving excellent care and reined work training at the barn where she lived in Kuna, but I found it difficult to get out and ride her very often because of the nearly two-hour round trip commute. Moreover, and even more importantly, if I wanted to enter a reined cow horse event I needed to practice on cattle. A lot.
Jake graciously agreed to board my mare and give me lessons to help me prepare for the show. As an NRCHA Million Dollar Rider and the highest money-earning rider in the National Reined Cow Horse Association for the past three years, I couldn’t have asked for a better person to mentor me as I prepared to officially re-enter competition.
It took a few weeks for me to get it together, but in mid-February I moved Freckles over and started our training.
IT ALMOST ENDS BEFORE IT STARTS
The first day I arrived at Telford Training I very nearly turned around and left. I got Freckles out of the trailer and saddled her, and took her into the indoor arena where Jake and his help were working cattle. There were several people loping horses around, including Annabelle, who I had brought over to ride Grumpy, and Jake’s two young daughters on their horses. A few two-year old colts were tied to the outside of the arena, and as they played and pawed the tarps covering the arena panels crackled and billowed.
Freckles was a little fresh, to say the least, and nearly jumped out from under me a couple of times. She was clearly very interested in the sounds of the cattle coming from the other half of the arena where Jake was working his horses. I was thinking to myself “It is definitely going to take several days of riding around here for me to get Freckles acclimated and settled down before I will be comfortable enough to ask Jake for a lesson.”
No sooner than that thought crossed my mind then Jake yelled across the arena “Come on in Paula, and work a cow!”
I felt faint.
I had stopped showing eight years ago after a bad fall while working a cow on this very property, and the last time I had worked in October I very nearly came off during the boxing portion of my derby work. And when I say I very nearly came off, I mean I VERY NEARLY CAME OFF. I realized the kindness of our new little mare that day, when I was hanging off of her left side by her mane and she stopped long enough for me to regain my seat before she addressed the cow again.
I rode into the cutting pen with quivering hands and tears in my eyes. I hadn’t realized until that moment just how much fear I had left over from my previous experiences. We cut a cow off from the herd, and Freckles engaged it with energetic enthusiasm. She ran across the pen, the cow stopped and Freckles wheeled and bolted after it. If I hadn’t been holding onto the saddle horn I would have come off.
The rest of the lesson was pretty much more of the same. Jake told me that we really needed to work on my mare’s stops; she was extremely hard to ride because she wasn’t engaging her hindquarters on those turns. Once we got her schooled up to property turn over her hocks she would be much easier to sit as she worked.
I don’t think Jake realized it that day, but I was intimidated and very disappointed. When I got home I told Desperate Hubby that I had probably made a big mistake. I told him that every time I ran across that pen all I could think about was falling off.
DH knows me pretty well. He knows Jake pretty well. He told me that I should admit to my friend just how frightened I was and see if he could help me. “No,” I told him miserably. “Jake doesn’t have time to help me at all, really, and he sure doesn’t have time to counsel me.”
I would just persevere.
So persevere I did. I rode at the barn every weekday, working a cow more days than not. For nearly two weeks I had nightmares about falling off. I would lie awake in bed every single night and visualize a correct and safe cow work before I went to sleep. At first it didn’t help at all, but increasingly my visualization was successful. Some nights I would sleep all night without one bad dream waking me in a cold sweat.
One morning I woke up and realized that I was fixed. For whatever reason, I wasn’t scared anymore. It was literally an epiphany! When I rode into the barn that morning I told Jake the good news. He smiled politely and said “Good, get over here and work a cow.” He didn’t seem all that impressed by my announcement. But I rode a lot better that day.
I don’t know if my trainer ever knew just how scared I was to dive into the cow work when I first started back riding with him. Whether he did or not, his approach to getting me back into the hang of it was perfect. He started slowly, getting a little progress each day and never letting me quit unless it was on a good note. Each day he built on what I had achieved the days before until I had the confidence to really enjoy the sport that I had once loved so much.
Things got a lot more fun after that.
I rode every single week day for the next week. Freckles got better and better at working a cow; and I got more confident with every passing day and successful work. With the entry date approaching for the Stakes, I asked Desperate Hubby what he thought. The show was over Annabelle’s spring break. Should I just go for it and take her with me? Or maybe just go watch and get the lay of the land?
Part of me wanted to take a “real” vacation, maybe stop by the Grand Canyon on the way to down to the show, then really take it easy once I got there…..sleep in, go the spa and share the sites of Vegas with Annabelle. Although horse shows are fun, a show of this caliber would be demanding. I had visions of middle-of-the-night schooling sessions followed by early morning warm-ups and waiting around for my class until mid-day, then cleaning stalls and preparing my horse for the event the next day before falling into bed exhausted early every evening. Would I enjoy that as much as just going to watch?
I knew DH thought I should enter, but I was reticent. What if I wasn’t ready? What if I had a relapse and fell off in the middle of the cow work? In the end, though, I did enter. I firmly believe that what you think about (and talk about) happens, and all I had thought about for months was going to this show.
So go we did.
DAY ONE: ARE WE THERE YET?
We rode with our friend Kris, the same generous soul who had loaned Annabelle her horse Chic to use all last year in her horse shows. Kris would also be showing a mare in my same class, and she looked pretty happy as we left. I don’t think she realized at that point that I would be content to sit over in the passenger seat for the entire trip there eating chips and drinking diet coke while she drove.
Annabelle was very excited to get on the road, and immediately set about watching a movie on the DVD player that Aunt Susie had loaned us for the trip. She interrupted her movies every ten minutes or so to inquire about the continued longevity of the trip.
We had persuaded our friend (and Batman’s girlfriend) Kristi, to come along with us and have a vacation herself, as well as keeping Annabelle entertained when I was busy riding.
She was a little camera shy at first.
We made it to Vegas in fair time, stopping along the way at several points for fuel and potty stops. As it turned out, we traveled in a sort of unofficial caravan, as we ran into Jake and his family and helpers at nearly every stop as well as pacing along with some friends from Washington who were also headed to the Stakes. It was a nice drive.
Our arrival at the hotel was met with a short line of trailers in front of us waiting to be unloaded. We bemoaned our timing at being behind Jake, who with two trailers and sixteen or so horses would be awhile unloading. True to the lore, though, the hotel had several staff members who were bustling about with trolleys and carts, and between Jake and his family and helpers they were unloaded in less than an hour. We were working on unloading at the same time, and with the help of a couple of the porters our hay, tack, and tack room supplies were all quickly transported to our stalls
We were able to check into our hotel rooms right at the stall office, and a bellman driving a big gator-type four-wheeler loaded up our copious bags and delivered them to our rooms.
Kris had everything we needed for a nice tack room setup, including a refrigerator, tables and chairs, saddle racks and enough hooks to hang all of our stuff plus more. She also brought along a nice selection of quality wine. I realized at once how lucky we were to share her stuff (and her generosity).
Our tack room was sort of a combination tack room/lounge/wine bar. It suited me perfectly!
DAY TWO: GETTING INTO THE PEN
I woke up early on Monday morning, anxious to get downstairs and ride Freckles. Jake was down there riding already, and he gave me tips and schooled me a bit in the busy arena to help me get ready for the next day. When I finished the girls took Freckles over for a nice long bath.
I’m not really sure who was wetter at the end of the bath, but Freckles was certainly clean and shiny!
Annabelle pulled the step up to her in the stall and went to work combing out her mane.
I was delighted to hear from Aaron, Freckles’ former owner and the person responsible for putting such a great training foundation on her. He and his wife Rebecca were there in Vegas, and they wanted to come and see Freckles. We met them and they walked to the stall with us. It was immediately evident that Freckles remembered her former owner. She put her head on him and snuggled up.
He seemed pretty happy to see her too, and I even convinced him to ride her a little that afternoon.
He got on and walked her slowly around the pen. Then he started bending her this way and that, and backed her up a long ways. Although he didn’t even have spurs on, he softened Freckles up considerably and she was noticeably more responsive with just a short thirty minute ride. It was impressive.
The girls and I spent some time cleaning up our tack and finalizing choices of shirts and saddle pads for the next day. That night we had an early dinner at the Italian place in our hotel, and got to bed so we could wake up for the next day.
DAY THREE: I SURVIVE THE HERD WORK
Tuesday would mark my first day of competition. I got up and headed down to the stalls early to get saddled and get into the cattle practice pen for my priority warm-up. At these major shows they bring in extra cattle to practice on, and each contestant in the herd work (also known as cutting) is allowed a slot to practice working cows before their competition. Your practice slot is generally two sets of herd work before you go, so that made my work sometime in the 8:00 hour.
Jake was down at the pens to help me, and he told me to go get checked in for my priority work. A contestant is not required to use their time slot, and if you don’t check in for your proper set you may lose your chance to another person who is showing later and who checks in early. I checked in only to find that my practice was going to be quite a bit earlier than I had planned. I hurriedly loped around for fifteen minutes before it was my turn, which was when Jake gave me some valuable advice that, while logical, had never been intuitive to me:
“When you only have half as much time to warm up; you need to lope twice as fast.”
It worked. I got Freckles warmed up and we had a very successful practice session. I felt confident and ready to go when I met my team by the in-gate to head into my first competition. Annabelle got busy doing a final tail brushing under Kristi’s watchful eye.
When I was all ready to go we posed for a picture. Note the large sign over my shoulder. I didn’t notice that sign once while I was there, though I rode through that same alley multiple times to practice and to show. It wasn’t until I was editing pictures for this blog that I read it. Dang. Could have used that advice last week!
The herd work event is when you enter the arena where a herd of cattle is held in place by four helpers who are there to help you get your horse shown to the best advantage. Your task is to cut one cow at a time out of the herd, and show your horse’s ability to manage that cow and keep it from rejoining its friends who are behind you.
I am pretty inexperienced at herd work, and though it looks deceptively easy it can be a challenge to make sure your horse is always in the right place at the right time and that you manage your time effectively in order to get two or preferably three cattle out of the herd to work during your allotted two-and-a-half minutes.
Freckles was very good entering the herd, and stayed quiet and engaged. we managed to get three cattle cut and worked before the buzzer went off to signify the end of our session. As I rode out of the arena one of my herd helpers, Ted Robinson, a legend in the reined cow horse industry and long-time acquaintance, said “Good job Paula. You’ll be the new leader!” That made me smile.
Unfortunately Ted wasn’t the judge.
But still, as my class ended I was in the middle of the pack, seven points down from the leading score. I was thrilled. Although I had made some big mistakes in my cattle management, I had not “lost” any cows and my horse had performed very well.
I was joined after I rode by Aaron, Freckle’s former owner, who was also very happy with her performance. He stood and watched the rest of the herd with me until my class was over.
Annabelle climbed on Freckles and cooled her out. She was just dying to ride, and completely un-intimidated by the professional riders buzzing around the warm-up arena beside her. It was pretty cute.
After she was finished cooling out Freckles, my girl got busy cleaning up our stall alley, sweeping up shavings and hay so we had a neat entry to our space. She is good help when she wants to be.
Watching my herd work video later was a great training opportunity to actually see what it was Jake kept talking to me about with regard to position, position, position (or in my case out-of-position, out-of-position, out-of-position, and WATCH the COW!!) I learned a lot that I hope will help me in my future showing endeavors.
LIONS AND TIGERS AND DOLPHINS, OH MY!!!
That afternoon the girls and I headed out to our first “Vacation” endeavor – a visit to the Mirage Hotel and Casino for a look at the famous white tigers. We bought tickets to the “Secret Garden” at the Mirage, and spent a couple of hours looking around at all the animals. The facility is beautiful, and the animal displays were fascinating for both of my young traveling companions (and me too).
These white lions greeted us as we entered the display. They were sound asleep, but woke up long enough to give us a once-over before dozing off again.
There was a cheetah display, with a few of the sleek felines moseying around the exhibit.
Next came the dolphins. There were a couple of big pools connected by a waterway, and we were able to catch two “Training Sessions” where the dolphins were put through their paces by the trainers to the awe and joy of the crowd.
You could get right up beside the pool where the dolphins could see you, and they were surprisingly social creatures, appearing over and over again to rise out of the water and “smile” at the guests in their house.
And they did some jumping tricks too, which were cool.
After we left the Mirage we headed back to the hotel, where we joined up with the group for an early dinner at the Asian restaurant. I had sushi (supposed to be good luck before a horse show, I’ve heard) and then we were to bed early again to get ready for the next event.
DAY FOUR: I GET IN TOUCH WITH MY INNER REINER
The next event I would compete in was the reining, or “dry work” as it is called in the reined cow horse vernacular. This is where you enter the arena and perform a series of prescribed maneuvers – circling, sliding to a stop, spinning, all in a specific pattern. I don’t know why it is called the dry work….maybe because some cow horse people think it’s boring? Because there is no cow poop? I’m not sure, but I was excited to get out there and give it a go.
I was up at 3:30am to get in the practice arena to school Freckles and then get her fed. I ran into Jake just as he was finished riding his own dozen or so horses, and he insisted on coming to help me school before he headed up to his own room to get some sleep. He really is a great guy.
I practiced for an hour and a half or so, then headed back up to the room to get ready to show. I dressed in my official sparkly “reiner” shirt and hoped it would give me luck.
Jake helped me to warm up again and gave me a few tips on preparing my horse right before I went into the arena. Aaron also joined me and gave me moral support before I headed in to show.
Freckles was a gem in the reined work. I rode a little slower than I should have, and might have scored higher if I’d been more aggressive, but in the end I had the second highest reined work score (by half a point) and moved up to second place in the cumulative standings. I don’t know if it was me or Aaron who was happier with Freckles that afternoon. I gave her a big pile of hay and some extra shavings before we headed off to our next vacation adventure.
WE VISIT VENICE AND I TRY TO MARRY KRISTI OFF
That afternoon we cleaned up and headed over to the Venetian, my favorite place to stay in Las Vegas, to take part in a tourist activity I had never before indulged in during all my trips to Vegas: A Gondola Ride.
We wandered around the beautiful shopping area that is decorated like the streets of Venice, stopping to pick up a couple of cones of chocolate-covered strawberries.
YUM!
Our gondola ride was very fun, and I kept teasing Kristi about being on a date with the gondolier. He thought that was pretty funny too.
Once he found out she was of-age, that is.
Annabelle and I snuggled on the other side of the bench, as she asked a million questions about how deep the water was, what would happen if we fell in, could she swim in it…… that sort of thing.
We enjoyed ourselves so much that we actually purchased the official picture of all of us in the gondola with Kristi’s date.
After the gondola ride we went to Postrio, which used to be one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco, and had some delicious Italian food. I had a sushi-like Ahi tower (couldn’t hurt, right?) and the girls had pizza and macaroni and cheese. Kristi taught Annabelle to play tic-tac-toe, and they played happily together until my darling six-year-old figured out how to cheat.
Then it was home and in bed again, not as early as the previous nights, but there was only one event to go.
DAY FIVE: IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE COW
The last event of the three-pronged competition was the Cow Work. In this event you enter the arena and a single cow is turned in with you. For my class, you are required to approach that cow and work it back and forth on the fence at the short end of the arena. Your horse should work as independently as possible, and once again position and execution are very important in the scoring of the run.
There is a saying in the reined cow horse world that “It all comes down to the cow.” The cow work is always the last event you complete that contributes to your cumulative score, and the stories are legion of competitors going into the cow work with a seemingly unbeatable lead, only to draw a cow that does not allow them to score even the minimal number of points they need in order to secure their win.
You want to draw a cow that is active and wild enough for your horse to show their skills, while being just manageable enough that you don’t lose him or get beat by his speed.
Freckles worked amazingly well that morning in our cow work preferred warm-up. She was quick, light in the face and I had no doubt we were ready for our competition. I was only three points behind the leader after making up the points in the reined work, so I was prepared to do my best. It was anyone’s game.
I trotted into the arena, nodding my head at the gate-man at the far end where our cow would be released. The gate opened and Freckles gave a little jump and twist of her head in excitement.
A small black steer trotted out. He looked pretty good!
I rode up and engaged him, but I couldn’t seem to get him moving. I could hear Jake yelling at me to get up there and move him, and though I did the best I could at the time, we came out of the cow work with a far lower score than I had hoped for. Still, I was happy with my horse. As I watched the video later, I could see that there was more I could have done to get that cow moving, and I also had a pretty big “miss” when I looked away from the cow for just a second and he beat me and Freckles in a turn. Once again I learned a ton from watching that video and I am excited to apply it at my next show.
Overall, I was very happy with our performance. We ended up third in our class, and got Freckle’s first official earnings: $870!! It was a thrill!
I HAVE HELP CELEBRATING FROM MY CALIFORNIA FRIENDS
The best part of my day was not over yet. As soon as I was finished showing, we met up with my friends Sandy and Tony who were coming to Vegas to celebrate their anniversary and attend a friend’s 50th anniversary celebration. We’d last seen my friends this past summer when they came to Idaho and rafted and rodeoed with us in August.
We had lunch with them and it was great to catch up. A little later we met them in the lounge to watch some horse show action and have a few drinks.
They looked awesome!
We got to spend the afternoon with Tony and Sandy, then had dinner with them and the rest of the group. It was so fun to see them, and I wish I’d had more free time to spend visiting with them.
DAY SIX: A HECTIC FAREWELL TO VEGAS
We got up Friday morning with several things on our mind. Kristi had some shopping she wanted to do. We needed to fuel up the truck to leave early the next morning; and I had a plan to go to the spa. I had heard tales of the wonderful spa at the South Point, and after my busy week I needed a massage. The girls wanted to try out the salon pedicure (a first for both of them), and to top it all off we had tickets that evening for the Tournament of Kings show at the Excalibur.
The day seemed like a whirlwind, but we got it all done. The spa was fantastic, the girls loved their Pedi’s, and we got everything done just in time to get dressed for our evening entertainment: the famous jousting exhibition at the Knights of the Roundtable arena.
I took this (not very good) photo before I saw the “Absolutely No Photography or Video” sign……honest.
It was really cool.
We had a great time at the show. It was very theatrical, and involved lots of half-naked men and fireworks. Really, I’m not making that up.
Oh, and there were cool horses too.
We got back to our rooms exhausted, to pack and get to bed before our 6:30am meeting time to load up the trailer and hit the road.
Despite all the fun we had had that week, we were ready to head home. The non-stop go-go-go schedule hit us all hard. Kristi had a terrible headache and sinus pain. The air at the South Point is notorious for being highly allergenic, and we all suffered from it. Our friend took a big dose of Nyquil and was out.
I was trying to watch the bridle horse competition on TV while I packed, and my little angel Annabelle had a complete and total meltdown. “Turn the TV off!!” she wailed, “turn it OFF!!!” I tried to calm her down, but her wails just got louder.
I turned the TV off, as well as the light beside the bed, and she started up again. “Turn it back ON Mama!!” This continued for half an hour or so, before she drifted into a fitful sleep. My dreams of meeting Sandy and Tony for a farewell cocktail faded into the twilight. I finished packing and headed to bed myself.
DAY SEVEN: AN UNEVENTFUL RIDE HOME
I was up at 4:30am for a final round of packing, and we had our bags picked up and were down at the stalls to load the trailer at 6:30. The load-out went quickly, despite the lack of porters at that early hour, and we were on the road by 7:30. We made good time going home, and once again Kris was nice enough to drive the whole way while I sat in the passenger seat and ate candy. She is a gem.
We made it home in good time, and I managed to get the kids into bed at an early enough hour that the Easter Bunny still had a chance to arrive. Easter morning started with my six year old traveler bursting into our room at 7:30, crying because the Easter Bunny had brought her brother a larger basket than he had brought to her.
Ah, it was good to be home.
By the way, if you are still awake and curious to see the video of my three runs, you can watch them here:
2013 NRCHA Stallion Stakes: Dox Smart
I would be remiss if I didn’t extend a big thanks to everyone who helped me in my quest to go to literally “get back on the horse”. Although my accomplishment is minute in the big scheme of the horse show world, to me it is literally life-changing to be able to once again embrace and truly enjoy something that I love to do so much.
I have to start with Desperate Hubby, who supported me wholeheartedly in my goal and took on numerous extra household and child management activities during my preparation for and execution of “The Road to the Stakes.”
Nathan Kent with Nathan Kent Performance Horses out of Lucky Run Arena in Kuna was instrumental in getting my horse solid enough in the reining that I could get her shown despite my nerves and horse-show rustiness. He spent a lot of time showing me how to capitalize on what he had taught Freckles, and though I obviously didn’t absorb everything he showed me, I appreciate every minute.
I am grateful to all of my friends, both horse and non-horse people, who encouraged me to get back into the sport I love so much. Whether you loaned me tack, took care of my kids or were there with a sympathetic ear, it all helped me get through the process. To Super-Nanny Kristi…..I can’t say enough.
Last but not least, I want to thank Jake and Jessie Telford of Telford Training. Without the support and guidance from Jake I would have never even considered trying to ride a cow horse again. Your generosity of time and allowing me to share your beautiful facility, cattle, talent and experience means the world to me.
Annabelle and I drove up our driveway just before noon today, and as we neared the house I saw several birds perched in the trees in our front yard.
Closer inspection revealed that they were robins. Lots of them.
They were several of the red breasts visible in our trees, and many more perched in the park right across the way.
Although the temperature hovered around 3 degrees, I couldn’t stop myself from trying to get a few photographs.
All of the birds were fluffed up against the cold, making them appear larger than life. Their brilliant colors stood out beautifully against the frosty blue-gray sky.
This duo hung out contentedly on nearby branches.
I have always heard that robins are one of the first birds of spring. I sure hope that’s true.
I’m ready for spring.
Interestingly, robins weren’t the only birds in the tree. This little brown finchy- looking fellow was near the very top of the branches, all by himself. He was the only one of his kind there.
And this black-and-white beauty was right in the mix too. At first I thought it was a magpie, but on second glance it seemed too small. It was no bigger than the fluffy robins in size.
Whatever it was it was pretty.
Annabelle and I were worried that the robins might be hungry. We came into the house and looked up “What to Feed Robins” on the internet. We were surprised to see that in the winter they are primarily fruit eaters. The article we read said that they really liked apples. And Cheerios.
So we made them a snack.
Since we didn’t have a bird feeder, we just attached the tray to the top of an old milk can and put it out near the big tree.
Several robins returned to the tree after we came back inside, but none of them went down to eat the food.
Damn ingrates.
Shortly after that, Batman went outside with his ‘Wounded Rabbit’ call to try to lure in the neighborhood fox, which both Grandpa Vernon and Daddy had seen lurking around the pasture the past couple of days. He made so much noise that all the birds flew away.
They haven’t been back since.
Upon re-entering the house, Batman pronounced that he had indeed called in the fox. In fact, he had called in ten foxes.
Actually, a hundred.
And they had bitten him. He went immediately into the bathroom and covered his entire right arm in band-aids. I have currently been unable to verify his injuries.
In other photographic news, we had the most beautiful sunset last night. The whole western sky was lit up with a bright blaze of color. It almost looked the Northern Lights. Except that it was in the south.
And last but not least, of all the photos I took yesterday one mysteriously did not load from my camera. I did not, in fact, find it until today when I was taking a look at the bird pictures.
It is of my mare Spice, immediately after I took the “dead horse” photograph, as she woke up briefly from her nap.
After my sort-of-whiny post the other day about our long stretch of cold weather, a friend of mine called to empathize with me. She said that she was getting sick of being inside too, and was making plans to leave the valley for a couple of days for a change of scenery. Then she said something that really resonated with me:
“Sometimes you have to make your own change.”
Wow. So simple yet so true. I decided right then that I would embrace these chilly days of weather in any way I could.
Yesterday morning presented the perfect opportunity. With temperatures outside hovering right around zero and lots of humidity lingering in the air, everything in sight was absolutely covered in heavy frost. It made for some awesome photo opportunities, so as soon as the sun started to peek out from under the haze I put on my snow boots, grabbed my camera, and headed out the front door to try to capture some of the beauty.
The animals were thrilled to have me out and about with them, and they bounced happily around as I crunched through the snow taking pictures of everything in sight.
The first volunteer for my impromptu photo session was Annabelle’s little cat, Ava. I was sort of surprised when she came bounding over the snow toward me, since Annabelle is really the only person in the family she likes.
But bound she did.
She ran over to one of the fruit trees in the front orchard and sat playing with the frost that drifted lazily down from the tree branches.
Winston-The-Maniac-Teenage-Birddog helped me out with the next part. He raced over toward the vulnerable grounded cat and left Ava no place to go but up the frosty tree.
She climbed up and walked carefully along the slippery branches, stopping every now and then to look around at the goings-on.
Eventually she jumped down from that tree and hopped through the snow to the tree next door.
She climbed up and sat for a long time peering down at me as the sky slowly brightened behind her.
After awhile she got down and ran away, with Winston in hot pursuit.
The rest of us meandered down the road to the horse pens, and I saw a sight that nearly took my breath away.
My pretty little bay mare, Spice, was lying in the snow, completely motionless. Her mouth was slightly open, and I could see her teeth shining through her gaping lips.
I really thought she was dead.
I watched for a few moments, and after a bit I could see her flanks gently heaving. She was just sound asleep.
As the dogs and Ava and I continued our ambling photo shoot, the next place Winston chased Ava was to the top of the post above the dog kennel. She actually spends a lot of time up there.
I guess she likes the view.
We wandered down the lane and toward the front of the property. I wanted to get a shot of the chain link fence covered in frost.
Along the way I stopped for a picture of the snowy pasture.
We headed back up toward the house with our ancient schnauzer Maddie slowly leading the way.
I got a photo of Toby-The-Old-Man-Dog sniffing around the front yard. I really don’t know what he was expecting to find in all that snow.
I took some pictures of driftwood and bushes…..remember the “Flying Pig” from our Stanley camping trip?
A couple of the big trees in the front yard looked pretty against the blue sky.
And I loved this cool shot of the same tree from the other side with the sun shining through it.
It was pretty amazing to me that during the hour I was outside the light changed so dramatically, and the hue of the sky varied completely depending on the direction of my camera lens. It was so engrossing that I never even felt the cold. Mother Nature sure is a fantastic artist.
If you are one of the millions of people not lucky enough to live in our beautiful Idaho valley, you are missing out on a winter wonderland.
A winter wonderland that has overstayed her welcome, in my humble opinion.
A measurable snow storm is rare enough in our area that we still rejoice at the first flakes, and delight in the snowman-making and frolicking that takes place if the fluffy whiteness actually accumulates on the ground.
Occasionally a winter inversion will even make for some pretty sunrise photos.
We got snow here in the valley between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and it was really fun. We played and played in the snow, built snowmen and had snowball fights. Then that snow kind of melted, until last week, when we got a major storm.
The snow was still fun then.
Batman, being the master of comic relief in our family, loves to run and “trip” in the snow, falling face-first in the powder with a squeal, then rolling around and around screaming “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”
Winston is always happy to add to the show, bounding around and around and up and down, jumping over Batman when he falls down and generally being a big goofball.
Of course, he can also be the sweetest boy sometimes. Notice how he is trying to twist his mouth around to pull off Annabelle’s glove.
We played in the snow every day for the first few days, and the kids even got to enjoy a “snow day” last week when Annabelle’s school shut down due to the big storm.
All that was still pretty fun.
Batman got to spend lots of time doing one of his favorite activities: helping.
After I shoveled the driveway and sidewalks after each snowfall, he would take the shovel and move impressive amounts of snow around on the long gravel drive in front of our house.
He shoveled several large areas in the front of the driveway until they were completely clear. While those areas were not necessarily expanses that needed to be snow-free, his effort was remarkable nonetheless.
At first, when the cold snap hit, Annabelle and I continued our normal routines. We rode in the indoor arena where Freckles lives even when the temperature hovered in the single digits.
This is when something happened that I never thought I’d witness.
Annabelle asked if we could please quit riding.
She was so cold that day she didn’t even help me get the horses unsaddled, and sat shivering in a chair covered up with someone else’s horse blanket until we were ready to leave.
That was almost two weeks ago, and it was the last day we rode. Since then, even taking care of the horses has been a challenge.
Grumpy is breaking in his new pink blanket from Santa Claus (on top of the two he was already wearing) because he was shivering in his hairless splendor.
Spice has icicles on her whiskers.
Reno’s mane and forelock are tipped in fine white frost in the mornings.
Our dining room sports a four-wheeled hose reel that contains the equipment we use to fill our horses’ water tanks, since the heater in the tack room cannot keep up with the sub-zero night-time temperatures.
Even Toby-The-Old-Man-Dog has deigned to join us in the house a few times to warm his frozen bones, a move that is pretty much unprecedented in his thirteen years with our family.
Of course, who wouldn’t want to warm up on a Dora comforter?
The snow still looks pretty from some angles.
But the many consecutive days of below-freezing temperatures have left the roads in our small town still ice-covered and treacherous for driving.
To add insult to injury, the pipes in poor Desperate Hubby’s office have frozen solid. Because the owner of our office complex is an absentee landlord residing in sunny Mexico, we have been unable to come to an agreement regarding the $500 or so it will cost to thaw-out said pipes. In the meantime, our office resembles a sauna, with two space heaters keeping the mercury at around 90 degrees as DH tries to initiate the thaw on his own. Sheesh.
Admittedly, the unseasonably cold weather is not without its merits. I have finished all my accounting updates for the company and already submitted our books to the CPA to get our 2012 taxes prepared. My home office is looking lovely (if I do say so myself) due to the amount of effort I have devoted to the makeover and subsequent revamping of my filing system and supply storage. The company’s national and state licensing was renewed well before the due date, and I have responded to the half-dozen or so inevitable requests for additional information in a very timely manner. I’ve even cleaned out and re-organized our pantry.
So the time spent waiting out the weather has not been wasted.
But still, I am ready to be done with this ultra-cold weather. I want to ride my horse and run outside and do all the stuff that we generally take for granted year-round here in our lovely state.
So snow and sub-zero temperatures go away. Come back again……next year.
Well, we have officially wound down our Christmas school break and 2013 New Year festivities here at the flats. It was at once a quiet and eventful three weeks here in the country.
Some of our activities weren’t all that different from the way we regularly spend our days. Annabelle and I spent a fair amount of time riding, as usual. She made full use of all her new pink items on Grumpy.
He looks pretty handsome in pink, no?
Blanket Clips….
One of the problems, though, of being a dedicated winter rider is that if your horse has a lot of hair, like Grumpy, and you like to do a lot of loping, like Annabelle, you can easily get your poor pony too hot.
See, she’s going so fast she’s a blur. Oh wait, I just don’t know how to use my camera in low light. That’s the problem.
But she did get poor Grumpy awfully hot and sweaty. When that happens to your mount and it is really cold outside, you need to spend lots of time walking them around and drying them off to make sure they don’t get sick from being chilled.
Annabelle finds that part of riding pretty boring.
As an alternative, you can clip off some of said pony’s hair so that they don’t get so hot in the first place. One of the most common winter horse-haircuts is called a blanket clip. You basically shave the parts of the horse that are covered by his warm winter blanket so that when you ride him (without the blanket, obviously) he doesn’t overheat.
Auntie Kris was game to give it a go, so she started clipping away.
Our initial foray into the world of blanket clipping was not very pretty, as the only clippers that Kris could readily lay her hands on were no match for the thick thatch of fur the our Grumpy was sporting. We only got a bit done on each side before we had to give up for the afternoon.
He ended up looking a little……mangy?
So the next day Auntie Shane came to the rescue with her big, strong, sharp clippers. She made short work of finishing up the haircut.
When it was all done, Grumpy looked much more symmetrical. But not really any happier.
He did stay much cooler during his rides, though. Thanks aunties!
Broken Arms……
OK, this title is a little deceptive. Nobody in our household actually broke their arm (or arms, thank god!) during the vacation. But one of Batman’s friends at school did.
So Batman, being the empathetic little tike that he is, adopted a “Sympathy Broken Arm.”
He came home from school one day and insisted that his arm hurt “really, really bad.” So daddy had to fashion a sling for him out of two Harley Davidson bandannas. Or some such thing.
Note the look on intense sympathy-pain on Batman’s face.
Batman wore the sling for three days and three nights straight (yep, you read that right….he slept in it). The only time he took it off was when he went to play with the kid who had the actual broken arm. Then he would wear it over to school in the car, remove it before going inside, and replace it immediately upon being picked up in the afternoon.
Notice that the sling is on his (dominant) right arm. He ate, wrote and performed all other activities left-handed. It was pretty darned impressive, if you ask me.
Then yesterday, out of the blue, Batman announced that his arm felt better. I removed the sling. Batman wadded it up in a ball and threw it in the corner of his room and hasn’t spoken of it since.
A Brand New Space for Mama
Now to the good stuff.
Since we moved into the wonderful old farmhouse we are happy to call home a little over two years ago, there has been a room in the back southwest corner that has been, well, lets just, multi-purpose.
When we first moved in, it was a guest bedroom with a desk in the corner for my little “office.” When we moved the big bed out of that room for Annabelle to use, we filled up the space with a treadmill that my in-laws generously donated. Along with boxes of junk, pictures, broken things and stuff that I just couldn’t find any other place to store.
This is what the room looked like after I cleaned it up a bit following the holiday. Yes, that’s right, after I cleaned it up.
That is the little corner where I sat to write my blog, pay bills, work on my memoirs and all the other interesting stuff that keeps me at my desk for pretty much every waking moment of my life (according to Batman, at least).
For some reason, (I assume it was the same temporary madness that has always overtaken me with the excitement of the impending New Year), I told Desperate Hubby that I wanted to clean the office out over our break. We could move the treadmill next door, I told him, to the room occupied by the Skinny Pigs and the forty-four plastic totes of toys that Batman no longer plays with but refuses to get rid of. I could put up some curtains, maybe slap on a little paint, and make the southwest room a respectable office.
DH was surprisingly amenable to that idea, but I think it was because he had forgotten how heavy the treadmill was and how it had taken three grown and crying men to get it down the hallway and into the room in the first place,
Nonetheless, one afternoon after Christmas when we girls were out riding our horses, Daddy and Batman managed to remove the treadmill from the office and hang the curtain rods I had procured from our nearby Wal-Mart.
Then the kids and I got to painting.
Of course, even with the painting in process, the room looked quite a bit worse before it started to look better.
Did I mention it was really messy?
I worked on it off and on this week after the kids went back to school, and yesterday I proclaimed it finished. Well, almost finished. When I put our actual family pictures in the frame on the wall it will be finished.
Looks much better, yes?
I had space on the far wall to hang a print that had been sitting on the floor for months since I had gotten it framed.
And I even ordered a little buckle holder so that I could get my old trophies out of the cardboard box in our storage shed.
I need to show this picture to Freckles so that she can see there are three available empty slots.
I love my new office. I can just sit in here for hours at a time and play solitaire on the computer and enjoying the ambience. I mean work.
It probably won’t really improve my writing any, but it definitely adds to my mood when I’m doing it. It’s amazing what a little time and three trips to Wal-Mart can do.
The kids and I had a rare free Saturday yesterday, and we decided to take advantage of it by going for a little ride at Eagle Island. This ride was special for me and Annabelle because Batman had decided to accompany us. His participation in equine activities has always been sporadic, and the time between his rides has grown greater and greater over the past months.
Annabelle was, as always, eager to show off her riding prowess, and she wasted no time in planning how the day would evolve. When we discussed horse assignments she volunteered to ride the pony and let her brother ride Grumpy, as the pony had not been ridden for a couple of months and she was “a lot better rider than her brother.”
We caught the horses, and I saddled Reno first. After I lunged him around for five or ten minutes I thought he would be safe for her to climb on. She mounted up and started trotting him around in small circles, bending his head and bridling him up to get him to listen to her. All seemed like it was going well, but I watched carefully for several minutes before I went back to saddling. I knew the pony could be fractious after time off, and it was a cold winter day out there.
I was on the other side of the trailer removing mud from a less-than-thrilled Grumpy, and I kept glancing around the corner to check on progress. At first, Reno seemed pretty compliant.
After about ten minutes though, I heard an alarming sound…..kind of a yelp/scream from my little girl. I rushed around the trailer just in time to see her launched off the back of the little black bastar bad boy and land on the frozen ground on her back.
Then this.
I ran to my baby girl, who was actually crying. She has been bucked or fallen off of more horses than most children her age will ever ride, and she almost never cries. So I was really mad at that pony.
I got Annabelle up and asked if she was all right. She answered in the affirmative, but made it clear she wasn’t getting back on. After a long hug and quick check of body parts, she trudged off to get some grain in a bucket so we could catch Reno. He has proven on more than one occasion that he enjoys a little freedom now and then, and it is almost impossible to catch him when he’s on a rampage.
I tried though.
He ran.
And bucked.
And ran some more.
Although I knew I wouldn’t likely catch him without the grain, I couldn’t stop myself from chasing him. I tried to head him off by jogging around the side of the horse trailer, where Spice was tied rearing and bucking in place from all the excitement.
Reno was thinking about running me down when suddenly Annabelle appeared behind him, rattling the bucket.
The pony screeched to a halt and his entire demeanor changed.
He turned and walked calmly to my now-smiling little cowgirl.
Who is the most forgiving person on the planet.
She patted him on the nose and said “Good boy Reno!”
There was no talk of cancelling the ride from any involved party, so we carried on with our plans. I got Spice and Grumpy saddled, and we loaded up and headed for Eagle Island. We decided en route that Batman would ride Reno, since the pony is always a perfect gentleman on the lead line, and Annabelle would regain her composure on her trusty Grumpy.
When we finally got on the trail it was a beautiful ride. Although we are in the depths of winter, there is plenty of wildlife to be seen at the lovely state park. We saw several blue herons, and the kids marveled at their long wing spans.
We even saw a heron sitting in a tree along the river. I had seen them on the ground many times, but I had never before seen one in a tree. It was pretty cool.
We stopped after going through one of the many gates we had to pass to take a photo of the team.
And speaking of wildlife, one of the funniest moments of the ride was an encounter between Winston and a big flock of geese sitting in a field.
Winston looked at the geese for a long time trying to figure out what to do.
He finally talked himself into approaching the flock, and moved toward them cautiously.
Batman was beside himself with excitement. All ride long he had wanted nothing more than to “catch a bird” to take home to daddy. Although he has gone hunting a few times, I don’t think he has the concept that you have to actually shoot a bird to capture it. He was sure that Winston would catch a goose for us, and that it would be “the PERFECT PRESENT for daddy!!!”
Winston wasn’t so sure about that. One of the geese honked at him, and he turned around and high-tailed it back to us.
We laughed at him for a while, and when it was apparent that he was not going to approach the birds again we started to walk back down the trail.
Suddenly the crazy dog got a flash of inspiration, turned around, and took off for the birds at a dead run. He ran right into the flock, who took flight at a leisurely pace.
The geese in the park are so used to dogs that they glided only about ten yards away and landed again. Winston was so proud of himself that he didn’t care if the birds actually flew away. He returned to us wagging his stump of a tail and smiling with his whiskery face.
He is a funny dog, that one.
Before we got to the trailer, we had one more gate to go through. Unlike all the other gates, this green metal swing gate could be opened and closed while on horseback. Annabelle was intent that she was going to do it herself.
Because she had been planning on riding Reno, she was not wearing her spurs, so she had to work hard to get Grumpy sidled over so she could reach the locking arm. I asked if she needed help. You can guess the answer.
When she got the gate unlocked, she swung it wide so that Batman and I could pass through.
Batman waited placidly for his sister to maneuver the gate. He was disappointed that we had not “caught” any birds, and he was ready to get in the truck.
After we passed through, it took a while for Annabelle to get Grumpy side-passed over and to where she could shut the gate. I asked again if she needed help, and she said “NO MOMMY! I can do it myself.”
She shut and locked the gate all by herself, and rode smiling over to resume our trek.
I know she is my daughter and all, but dang she is cool.
Once we got the horses loaded and climbed back in the truck, the cold and activity took its toll on four-year old Batman. He fell asleep before we hit the main road and although I know he must have been roasting he slept for the entire 45 minute drive.
Gloves and all.
It was a fun winter day. We all appreciated the fresh air and relatively moderate temperatures, and it is always rewarding to do a physical activity with the kids.
So remember, we offer pony rides…..
……..with a 50% discount if you have good insurance.
As we near the end of the long Thanksgiving weekend, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on just how much I have to be thankful for. Our weekend has been packed with activity, and we made a conscious effort this year to try spend the long Thanksgiving holiday in celebration of the things that make our life so very wonderful.
Of course, I am first and foremost grateful for my wonderful family. My children have brought immeasurable joy to my existence, and I say thank you every single day that I was bestowed with the honor of playing a small part in the raising of the three wonderful girls that came into my life through marriage, and then further blessed by the birth of my own two little miracles later in life. Hali, Hana, Sami, Annabelle and Zach are truly the lights of my life.
My husband, Desperate Hubby, also occasionally known as Greg, is my rock. He is my best friend and my biggest fan, and while we have our occasional differences of opinion, he is generally quick to see the light and come around to my way of thinking (love you, hon).
Outside of my immediate household, I also have a lovely extended family. My siblings are all close enough for the random and highly enjoyed visit, and my husband’s family reminds me of how important a parent’s caring and love are to a healthy and happy life.
My network of friends is a treasure, and I am so grateful for the support, guidance, nagging and motivation they offer me on a continuing basis. Without them I wouldn’t know where to send my kids to school or when they are too sick to go there; I wouldn’t have started riding again, and definitely would never have had the confidence to embark once more on my beloved sport of horse showing; I wouldn’t have the motivation to write, either, or spend a night every month shooting guns. Whether I see and talk to my friends once a day, once a week, every quarter or even every few years I always come away from the encounter enriched. Thank you friends.
So, you ask, how did our family spend the weekend celebrating what we are thankful for?
It will come as no surprise and Annabelle and I spent the majority of it riding our horses. We warmed up on Wednesday with a ride in the indoor arena at Lucky Run, then on Thanksgiving Day we explored the BLM land south of Kuna, taking our new horse, Freckles, out for our first-ever trail ride with her. She was fantastic. Despite her somewhat diminutive size, she walked at least twice as fast as Grumpy, a fact which delighted Annabelle since she got to spend a lot of time trotting.
We climbed to the top of a large hill and spent a few minutes looking all around the valley. It was beautiful.
Of course, being that it was Thanksgiving Day, Annabelle spent quite a bit of time eating. As she rode. She’s a good multi-tasker, that one.
I took lots of pictures of Grumpy and Freckles together. Despite his reputation for not really enjoying the company of other horses, Grumpy seems to have an affinity for our pretty sorrel mare.
DH and Zach spent Thanksgiving Day preparing for a hunting trip. Batman has become absolutely obsessed with hunting since Daddy went away for a few days earlier this month on a deer hunt. We have heard of nothing else for weeks.
This is how he arranged his bed while Daddy was gone.
Note the hunting clothes hung carefully beside the hunting magazines and the contract from Daddy promising to take him hunting below. I am not exaggerating about him being obsessed.
When we went to enjoy the Caldwell Downtown Christmas light display, we waited in line for the kids to get balloon animals.
Batman chose a red dog.
Which he turned into a deer immediately upon our arrival home. He did this whole makeover entirely on his own. I kid you not. I was impressed.
Note that he created, specifically, a Whitetail.
The day of the big Thanksgiving hunt was Saturday. Annabelle and I were headed out to ride our horses again, and the boys were off to the Sweet/Ola area to hunt for birds. Batman was dressed in his entire hunting outfit, literally from head to toe, by 8:00 a.m. I had to feed him his breakfast because he refused to take his gloves off. Seriously.
Batman has been acquiring hunting gear since he took up the idea of going with Daddy a few weeks back, but he has been storing said gear in his “Hunting Suitcase” because “You can’t wear it if you’re not actually hunting, Mom!”
He was so excited to see it all put together that he stood on the toilet in the powder room admiring himself for quite some time before he would join us for ham and eggs.
He did insist that I take this special photo of his “Hunting Headlamp” attached to his “Hunting Hat.”
When breakfast was finished, the boys headed out. They spent several hours hunting in the Montour Wildlife Management Area, where DH estimates they hiked at least three miles, up and down hills, with Batman working his way through thigh-high brush and weeds. It rained lightly almost the entire time.
DH had Batman walking behind him for safety, and every so often he would turn around and say “You okay back there, Bud?” Batman always had a big smile on his face, and his reply was always the same. “Yep! We’re still hunting, right dad?”
They paused for lunch around noon, and you can see how happy my baby boy looks. Almost as happy as old Toby, who is sure that Zach is going to drop that ham sandwich any second.
Right near the end of the day, the hunters were successful. They shot a quail just as they were leaving the area to head for home, and Batman was ecstatic about cooking and eating their kill. Sadly, DH made the mistake of leaving the quail on top of his workbench momentarily when he went in the house to change his shoes. This gave Winston the Maniacal Bird Dog the perfect opportunity to grab it.
As Annabelle and I drove down the driveway returning from riding, we were greeted by the site of Winston running as fast as he could away from the garage, frantically chewing and swallowing what looked like a bunch of dead feathers while he glanced furtively over his shoulder. The look on DH’s face when he walked out into the garage a second later was really priceless.
All told, though, the hunters had a wonderful time together, and I am sure they will be spending many more fall and winter days out in the field. As soon as I buy Winston a shock collar, that is.
The highlight of our Thanksgiving was, of course, the time we spent together. On Friday the older sissies came over for the afternoon, and we were all very excited to see them.
They had an olive wearing/eating contest with their younger siblings. I’m pretty sure Annabelle won that one.
I briefly channeled Martha Stewart when I made a Cheesecloth-Covered-Wine-and-Butter-Basted turkey.
It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.
We all had a wonderful day together, and it was a great reminder that the most important things in life aren’t things. They are the relationships we share and the memories we make with all of those we love.
After a successful summer of showing the wonderful Smart Chic Dot Com, graciously shared with her by our friend Kris Troxel, Annabelle was pretty spoiled. So was her mom. All we had to do was get to the show and meet up with Chic, who was always perfectly schooled and ready to perform, throw on Annabelle’s little saddle and go.
With Chic’s late season injury, we were faced with two choices. Annabelle could sit out the last two shows of the season, or we could try to get her own horse Grumpy ready for her to take to the show pen.
Annabelle had been riding Grumpy all year, so he was fit and ready to go as far as his conditioning went. Problem was, Grumpy wasn’t “schooled up”. Prior to joining our family about a year ago, Grumpy hadn’t been shown or schooled much for a couple of years. Even for a veteran show horse like Grump, it is asking a lot to go out and pack a kid around the arena without time to practice and get back in the show groove.
Moreover, when I had schooled Grumpy in a training show early this spring, he had been a bit fractious in the pen: show fresh and full of himself. I had visions of any parent’s nightmare: Grumpy running off or otherwise misbehaving with his tiny rider, scaring her, and maybe even ruining her love for showing. I had decided that we would wait at least a year before letting Annabelle attempt to ride him in a competition.
With the last two shows looming, though, I gave my little girl the choice: do you want to start practicing on Grumpy for next year and spend the winter getting ready, or do you feel that you can go out and try to show him now?
You probably have to think hard to guess what she said.
Our biggest challenge with Grumpy was Annabelle’s size; more specifically the shortness of her legs. While Grumpy is certainly an accomplished show horse, he was accustomed to being cued largely by the rider’s legs, and with my baby’s legs barely making it past the saddle pad, Grumpy either couldn’t feel or didn’t understand when Annabelle was asking him to spin. He just wouldn’t do it.
The week before the show, I thought hard about how Annabelle could get Grumpy to spin. I realized that if I could make him turnaround for me without using my legs, so could Annabelle. I rode him one afternoon, and worked on getting him into the turnaround using only the reins and a tap on the neck with Annabelle’s little pink whip. While hitting in front of the saddle is not allowed in the show ring, I figured that if Old Grump was properly schooled beforehand, he would spin without the whip too.
We didn’t have a lot of time to practice before the first show, but Annabelle and Grumpy did a bang up job. Grump was quiet and calm, and the duo looked adorable out there loping around the big pen at the Idaho Center Horse Park. Although they didn’t get their spins as well as we had hoped, the team earned Annabelle’s first actual horse show check, along with a beautiful set of white polo wraps embroidered with the Idaho Reining Horse Association logo.
Boy was my girl excited!
Before the date of second show, we practiced more. Annabelle worked on her timing and cadence in cueing for the spins, and Grumpy picked right up on the change. By the time the last show rolled around, Grumpy was spinning like a champion in practice.
Annabelle was pretty excited to be showing Grump again. They looked just fantastic all dressed up, with Annabelle in a new show shirt (thanks again Auntie Shane) and Grumpy sporting the new white polo wraps that the pair had won together in their first outing.
Don’t they look cute? The spots on the picture, well, they were dust on my camera lens. But you get the idea.
Their performance literally brought tears to my eyes. I had been so worried that Annabelle was going to have a hard time adapting to showing a different horse, but those worries were all put to rest by this pretty go.
Annabelle and Grumpy SRRA November 3, 2012
Annabelle and Grumpy improved on their previous score by a whopping 6.5 points and earned first place in their class. I was so proud of both of them.
The duo is keeping up their practice even though the season has ended. Annabelle rushes out to ride after school, and just yesterday the two of them mastered a few flying lead changes. It was pretty cute to watch.
We will be forever grateful to Chic for teaching Annabelle what horse showing is all about. Under his kind tutelage she learned not only how to show, but how much fun it can be when it all comes together.
Chic continues to convalesce in his comfy pasture in Nampa. He foot is still a little sore, but he has a great appetite and can move pretty fast across the paddock for a cookie. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers, that he continues to improve and get more comfortable every day.
